A Bundesliga game in Paderborn - that is always a special form of compliment for SC Freiburg. Focus on young players. Investment in talent development. Scouting where hardly anyone else looks: On its way back to the first league, SC Paderborn has followed many of the things that Freiburg have shown German football over the years.
This time the game between the newcomer and the role model ended 1-0 (1-0) for the favorite. But the Breisgauers had to fight significantly more in this Paderborn home game premiere than in any of their four wins in three competitions in the previous weeks.
“This is a very, very good newcomer who will score points here at home with this way of playing. I’m sure of that,” said Freiburg coach Julian Schuster. “It will still be difficult for some opponents. How they do it is very impressive for a newcomer.”
The sports club experienced two completely different halves in front of 15,000 spectators in Paderborn. Schuster's team was so good in the first half that they could have scored more than just the one goal from Maximilian Eggestein (26th minute). After the break, Freiburg came under heavy pressure at times.
Schuster's praise for the newcomer
What could have been a reason for harsher criticism given this contrast, the Freiburg coach had basically expected nothing else. “We knew that we would have to put in a lot of effort and work if we wanted to get something here. That’s exactly how it happened,” said Schuster.
"If you make the mistake of believing: "We're playing against a promoted team here. How can it be that he's outplaying me now?" Then you're surprised that two goals are scored at once," he said. “But the boys totally accepted it.”
With five wins in five games in the three different competitions: Bundesliga, DFB Cup and Conference League qualification, Freiburg got off to a flawless start to the season. This is 180 degrees different from last year's results, when two defeats at the start of the Bundesliga were the reason for a tactical course correction.
Only two new guys in the starting line-up
It's not needed this time. Freiburg only made one top performer too much money this summer (Johan Manzambi) and therefore only has two new signings (Mio Backhaus, Yannik Engelhardt) to integrate into its starting eleven for the time being. The processes are in place. The team is there to the point.
“I believe that we are very stable in terms of the team and the core,” said Matthias Ginter. «We want to continue working on our principles. Stick to the things we did well last season. We want to continue to improve. And that’s more about continuity and consistency.”
The next opponent is Ginter's former club Borussia Mönchengladbach. Four coaches there in the last five years are pretty much the opposite of the Freiburg way. On Saturday, Ginter stood in the locker room of the Paderborn Arena and saw on the television how the Gladbachers conceded a late 3:4 against another promoted team SV Elversberg. The shaky 1-0 win in Paderborn looked a little better in comparison.
